Note: The following is a post by Mihir and it represents his opinions.

Random House official sff site Suvudu has always cool features and some great content; the best one is the Free Library section wherein various titles by prominent authors are featured free in a variety of e-book formats; this month's additions to the ever-growing library are two very, very groovy books.

The first one is ALREADY DEAD by Charlie Huston , the 1st book in the Joe Pitt series; this book has been reviewed by Robert HERE. The blurb details are over here "Those stories you hear? The ones about things that only come out at night? Things that feed on blood, feed on us? Got news for you: they're true. Only it's not like the movies or old man Stoker's storybook. It's worse. Especially if you happen to be one of them. Just ask Joe Pitt.

There's a shambler on the loose. Some fool who got himself infected with a flesh-eating bacteria is lurching around, trying to munch on folks' brains. Joe hates shamblers, but he's still the one who has to deal with them. That's just the kind of life he has. Except afterlife might be better word.

From the Battery to the Bronx, and from river to river, Manhattan is crawling with Vampyres. Joe is one of them, and he's not happy about it. Yeah, he gets to be stronger and faster than you, and he's tough as nails and hard to kill. But spending his nights trying to score a pint of blood to feed the Vyrus that's eating at him isn't his idea of a good time. And Joe doesn't make it any easier on himself. Going his own way, refusing to ally with the Clans that run the undead underside of Manhattan—it ain't easy. It's worse once he gets mixed up with the Coalition—the city's most powerful Clan—and finds himself searching for a poor little rich girl who's gone missing in Alphabet City.

Now the Coalition and the girl's high-society parents are breathing down his neck, anarchist Vampyres are pushing him around, and a crazy Vampyre cult is stalking him. No time to complain, though. Got to find that girl and kill that shambler before the whip comes down...and before the sun comes up."

The book is a great start to an UF series but with a big NOIR twist to it. It's a veritable good read.

The next book is a Dark Fantasy & from the devious alter ego of James Rollins. The book is WIT'CH FIREby James Clemens. James writes adventure, tech thrillers under his Rollins Pseudonym & dark fantasy titles under the Clemens Pseudonym. This book was his first publication & is the first book in The Banned & the Banished series. Apart from being a character driven fantasy, it has a rather unique twist attached to it. It has a triple - story within a story within a story setting going on - while the actual plot is described in the blurb below, there is also the twist of why these tales are called "The Banned & the Banished" & who actually wrote them?

A fun & fast series with lots of action, devious characters & plot twists. The 1st book being featured here might be a good start to see why James Clemens is also a joint personal favorite for both Robert & myself.

And to get you started here's the book blurb "On a fateful night five centuries ago, three mages made a desperate last stand, sacrificing everything to preserve the only hope of goodness in the beautiful, doomed land of Alasea. Now, on the anniversary of that ominous night, a girl-child ripens into the heritage of lost power. But before she can even comprehend her terrible new gift, the Dark Lord dispatches his winged monsters to capture her and bring him the embryonic magic she embodies.

Fleeing the minions of darkness, Elena is swept toward certain doom--and into the company of unexpected allies. There she forms a band of the hunted and the cursed, the outcasts and the outlaws, to battle the unstoppable forces of evil and rescue a once-glorious empire . . ."